Husband: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords worried by threats

TV interview to be broadcast today

Jan. 18, 2011 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords worried about death threats and discussed fears for her safety on a number of occasions with her husband, Mark Kelly, Kelly told reporter Diane Sawyer in an interview to air today on ABC.

"Yeah, she's had death threats. As a lot of members of Congress have death threats," Kelly is quoted as saying in a transcript of the interview released by the network late Monday. "She's had 'em before . . . she says, you know, 'Someday I'm really worried that somebody's gonna come up to me at one of these events with a gun.'

"I mean . . . we've talked about it probably, you know, 10 times."

Giffords, wounded in the head during the Jan. 8 shootings in Tucson, was upgraded Sunday from critical to serious condition at Tucson's University Medical Center. Kelly told Sawyer in the interview that his wife was responding to more complex commands, and at one point reached out to give him a neck rub.

"So typical of her," Kelly told Sawyer. "She's in the ICU. You know, gone through this traumatic injury. And she spent 10 minutes giving me a neck massage. . . . And I keep tellin' her, I'm like, 'Gabby, you're in the ICU. . . . You know, you don't need to be doin' this.' But it's so typical of her that no matter how bad the situation might be for her, you know, she's lookin' out for other people."

According to the network, Sawyer asked what Kelly might say to shooting suspect Jared Loughner's parents if they asked to see him.

He responded: "I'd probably see them. You know, I don't think it's their fault. It's not the parents' fault. You know, I'd like to think I'm a person that's, you know, somewhat forgiving. And, I mean, they've got to be hurting in this situation as much as, as much as anybody. I mean, for their son . . . I'm sure they love their son. And they must be, you know, as distraught over this as, as all of us are."